8 Must-Read Frances Hardinge Books

In the underground city of Caverna, lying is the only way to live. It's a place where the world's most skilled craftspeople create the most astonishing delicacies with incredible powers: wines that can remove memories, cheeses that can make you hallucinate and perfumes that convince you to trust the wearer even as they slit your throat. 

The people of Caverna are more ordinary, save for one thing: their faces are completely blank. Expressions must be learned. Only the famous Facesmiths can teach a person to show (or fake) feelings, but it comes at a price. Neverfell is a little girl who can't remember her past. Her face is so terrifying to those around her that she must wear a mask at all times. She cannot lie, and that makes her extremely dangerous to Caverna.

Sometimes, when a person dies, their spirit goes looking for somewhere to hide. They look for people who have space within them, ideal for those spirits to disappear into. Makepeace is only 12 years old but already she has learned to defend herself from the ghosts which try to possess her in the night, desperate for refuge inside her frail body. But one day, she lets her guard down and now there's a spirit inside her who refuses to leave. 

This spirit is wild, but it also might be Makepeace's only ally when she is sent to live with her father's rich and powerful ancestors. There is talk of civil war, and they need people like her to protect their dark and terrible family secret. Now, Makepeace must make a terrible choice. 

Is it better to be possessed or dead?

Faith’s family is moving from their beloved home to a small island so that her father can continue his work in fossil excavation. At first greeted with the fanfare an honorable guest deserves, the locals soon turn against him when whispers emerge of his possibly fraudulent past. Then he's found dead under mysterious circumstances. 

Faith is determined to find out what happened. Searching through his belongings for clues, she discovers a strange tree, one that bears a curious kind of fruit to those who whisper lies into its trunk. But the truth of the tree is as deceptive as the falsehoods it feasts upon, as Faith is about to discover. 

Once upon a time, the gods of The Myriad were real and all-powerful, dominating the island of Lady's Crave. But they're all dead now. Hawk, a 14-year-old street urchin, and his best friend Jelt make a scant living diving off the coastline to scavage relics for the gods. But something is bubbling beneath the deep waters, calling to them. 

There's a true treasure in the darkest depths of the ocean. When the waves try to claim Jelt, Hark will do anything to save him. Is he tough enough to take on what remains of the gods themselves?

Twelve-year-old Mosca Mye has a tough life. Her cruel uncle keeps her locked up in his mill where she is isolated from everything and everyone. Her only friend is her temperamental pet goose Saracen. Her sole solace is in her ability to read, but in this world, books are dangerous things, and being able to read makes her a powerful girl. Enter Eponymous Clent, a smooth-talking con man who seems to love words nearly as much as Mosca herself. 

Soon, Mosca and Clent are living a life of deceit and danger thanks to her skills and his savvy. It's just like the kind of adventure tales Mosca wanted to live in as a child. But then she learns that the one thing she loves—words—might be what kills her in the end.

There's nowhere in the world as unique as Gullstruck Island. The volcanoes squabble, the beetles sing, and occasionally a Lost—a child with the power to leave their body and mind-fly with the winds—is born. In the village of the Hollow Beasts live two sisters. 

Arilou is a Lost and Hathin is her helper. Together they hide a dangerous secret. With a blue-skinned hunter on their trail and a dreadlocked warrior beside them, they must escape. The future of their beloved island home is at stake and only these intrepid sisters can save the day.

When Triss wakes up after being involved in a terrible accident, she knows instantly that something is not quite right with her. She's hungry but nothing can sate her. She keeps waking up with leaves in her hair. Her own sister is petrified of her, and when she cries, her tears are like cobwebs. 

Soon Triss discovers that what happened to her is more strange terrifying than she ever could have imagined. She is, quite literally, not herself. But where is the real her? To uncover the truth, she will need to travel into the bowels of the Underbelly of the city and confront a twisted architect who has dastardly plans for her family.

Kellen has strange talents he doesn't understand. In a world where anyone can create dangerous curses, he is the only one who can undo them. His curious abilities allowed him to help Nettle, who had been cursed into bird form and is now Kellen's constant companion. But Kellen is also cursed, and unless he finds someone else to remove it, things could end terribly. Not only will he unravel, but so will everyone he helped to free from their curses.